The Daily Colonist, June 8–21, 1915

#dailycolonist1915 - The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago. 

[This instalment covers two weeks to make up for missing my usual post last week. While the Italians are in the war now, and while horrific fighting on both European fronts and also in the Dardanelles continues, the news of it is repetitive and not particularly enlightening. The most interesting and remarkable things, however, are outside that realm: Zeppelin raids, submarine pirates, the (bizarre when seen with modern eyes) casual racism of 1915, and more.]

• Tuesday, June 8, 1915
  • Canadian pilot Reginald J. Warneford makes history by being the first to down a Zeppelin with a single aeroplane. Unfortunately the burning wreckage of the Zeppelin lands on a Belgian orphanage, killing two nuns and two children.
    
  • The fantastic story of a man pinned down for a day in a shell crater who spent the whole day throwing German grenades back at the Germans. 
    
  • An ad encouraging women to include Chiclets, "the dainty confection of refinement", in their order when telephoning their grocer. 
    
• Wednesday, June 9, 1915
  • Call for another 35,000 men is issued, bringing the Canadian total to 150,000 men. 
    
• Thursday, June 10, 1915
  • Two young "Austrian" men [most likely ethnic Ukrainians from Galacia] are shot in an escape attempt from the internment camp in Brandon, Manitoba. Both are expected to survive.
    
  • A letter home from a soldier from [my home town of] Duncan.
    
• Friday, June 11, 1915
  • The American government responds to the German response to the American note about the sinking of the Lusitania. The entire letter is reproduced, but the gist of is that the Americans call bullshit on the German claims that the Lusitania was armed and carrying soldiers and munitions, and that if that is what the Germans believed then boarding and searching the ship would have been in order, not just sinking it without warning, and that the Germans have no right to declare a "war zone" and fire on neutral civilians.
    
  • A couple of disturbing examples of lists of casualties appearing beside lists of things advertised for sale [illustrating how ordinary columns of dead and wounded have become, even this early in the war.]
    
  • Photograph of a model of the new observatory being built in Victoria to house the [as yet] world's largest telescope.
    
• Saturday, June 12, 1915
  • Sub-Lieut. Warneford's amazing first-hand account of single-handedly downing Zeppelin, including how the explosion of the air-bag threw his aeroplane upside-down.
    
  • A bizarre and fascinating little article on a meeting of the directors of Uplands, Limited (developer the very up-scale Uplands neighbourhood of Victoria), all in active service in the French army, meeting in the trenches and discussing the development.
    
  • A utterly bizarre ad for Black-Cat cigarettes showing an anthropomorphic black cat receiving a military medal. 
    
• Sunday, June 13, 1915
  • The Daisy-Chain, Sunshine and Rainbow chapters of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire meet to organize a garden party.
    
  • The contract for the construction of the observatory on Little Saanich Mountain outside Victoria is awarded. 
    
  • A wounded soldier from Barrie, ON confirms report of Germans crucifying wounded Canadians.
    
• Monday, June 14, 1915
  • [no paper on Mondays]
• Tuesday, June 15, 1915
  • [nothing caught my attention]
• Wednesday, June 16, 1915
  • After British, Canadian, and other workers from Allied countries walked out, refusing to work with German and Austrian workers, the mine at Fernie an officer from the office in charge of alien internment was sent from Ottawa. All people in Fernie born in enemy countries, regardless of current citizenship, must register.
    
  • Board of Trade inquiry into the sinking of the Lusitania opens. Testimony is given that the ship was not armed, 
    
  • All week leading up to the Lusitania inquiry there have been articles about the sinking of unarmed vessels, calling the Germans pirates and murderers.
    
• Thurday, June 17, 1915
  • A Zeppelin raid on the northeast coast of England kills 40 people and injures 80. A French air-raid on the German city of Karlsruhe is reported to have killed 200 people. 
    
  • Germans are reported to be enraged by the French air-raid on the German city of Karlsruhe.
    
• Friday, June 18, 1915
  • [100 years ago 100 years ago:] A reproduction of a story from the June 22, 1815 edition of the London Times reporting the victory of the British over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815.
    
  • Testimony at the Lusitania inquiry reveals that two submarines were lying in wait for the liner, that the lifeboats were not all in good repair and not all ready to be deployed, that the ship did not make precautionary manoeuvres to conserve coal, and that the crew responsible for the steerage passengers panicked. 
    
• Saturday, June 19, 1915
  • A report from Germany that the kaiser calling Canadian troops "the second Gurkhas"—a compliment to the fighting pluck of Canadians [Nepalese Gurkhas had–and have–a reputation as fearless fighters.]
    
  • Recent air raids by boths sides have resulted in the death of well over two hundred people, mostly non-combatants. 
    
• Sunday, June 20, 1915
  • Fighting in the Dardanelles has been going this whole time. The front page today has large pictures of the British and French commanders of the operations. The British continue to advance, at high cost, in Gallipoli. 
    
  • It has come out how British ships have been safely crossing the Channel despite German submarines. Apparently and amazingly an underwater wire fence has be slung across the channel to prevent submarine movement. 
    
  • Another report of the Germans comparing Canadians to Gurkhas, calling us "White Ghurkas" to be precise. 
    
  • An ad [stunning in its casual racism] for a black-face minstrel show at the Pantages.
    
  • A lengthy story on the 21-year-old Edward, Prince of Wales becoming a man in active service. [This is the future King Edward VIII, who will reign for only 11 months in the 1936 before abdicating to marry divorcée Wallis Simpson, who was still married to her second husband at the time of the proposal. I personally believe that were it not for what he experienced in the war Edward would not have had the courage to abdicate for love in 1936. They remained together until Edward's death in 1972 and during the 1950's and 60's were "Jet Set" socialites.]
    
  • A Toronto factory is making "giant" bomber aeroplanes for the British, larger than any current aeroplane.
    
• Monday, June 21, 1915
  • [no paper on Mondays]

[ source: http://www.britishcolonist.ca/dateList.php?year=1915 ]